Download «Editorial Policies and Publication Ethics» (PDF)

Open Access Policy

The journal of Historical Thinking, Culture, and Education (HTCE) publishes peer reviewed scientific papers according to the principle of open access. The papers are licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes. If others remix, adapt, or build upon the material, they must license the modified material under identical terms. All papers are available worldwide without restrictions and without any cost.

Content Policy

The journal publishes original papers (research papers section) subject to peer review and brief discussions about history education (miniatures) reviewed by the editors. Both reviews (by peers and by editors) are developed by experts in the field. These review processes seek to guarantee the originality and significance of the paper and of its contribution.

For Authors

Submitting and processing costs

The journal does not charge any fees for publishing.

Selection of submission and review process

Submissions for both sections of the journal (research papers and miniatures) are subject to review.

Submitted research papers are forwarded to a member of the Peer Review Board for peer review after a formal check by the editorial team. The reviewers may recommend the article for unchanged publication, request a revision or refuse publication. Our peer review guidelines apply. The review is double-blind. The reviewers do not know the name of the author(s) and vice versa. Editors commission an additional review if the review process is inconclusive (e.g. first reviewer recommends to accept the submission and the second reviewer recommends to reject it).

Submitted miniatures are forwarded to a member of the editorial board for peer review after a formal check by the editorial team. The member of the editorial board may recommend the article for unchanged publication, request a revision or refuse publication.

The peer review process results in the approval for unchanged publication, the request for a revision, or the rejection of a submission.

Additional information:
flowcharts documenting the editorial process
peer review criteria

Authorship and Contributorship

The authors/contributors of research papers and miniatures must have contributed to the work in some capacity. They have to be able to address any requirements needed in terms of authorship and contributorship. All contributors have to be attributed accordingly and copyright law must be respected.

Originality and Veracity of the data

By submitting a research paper or a miniature, authors confirm that their research is original (unpublished) and has not been submitted to any other journal in English or any other language. This journal makes a strong commitment to protect authorship and copyright. That is why plagiarism is prohibited. Any research article or miniature that commits plagiarism will be removed from the journal when detected (even after the contribution is published). By submitting a research paper or a miniature, authors confirm their submission does not violate any rights of other authors or third parties. By submitting a research paper or a miniature, authors confirm that there are no conflicts of interest that may have influenced the results, that the data are not altered and that the information used is accurate.

Intellectual Property

Authors retain all rights to their text and do not need to obtain permission for further use/publication of their papers published in the journal. As a consequence, authors are solely responsible for the content of the research articles and miniatures. Author may not upload any preprints to any server until the publication is published by the journal. Once published the authors are asked to use the published version of the research and address the name of the journal when referring to the mentioned research. By signing the publication agreement, authors consent to an online publication of their paper and grant the relevant rights (Creative Common, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Acknowledgment of the source of funding

Authors have to disclose the source of funding for the development and implementation of their research. Author must clarify any possible conflict of interest.

Conflicts of interest or competing interests

A conflict of interest is a personal, commercial, political, academic, or financial interest that influences authors on what is published. Authors must declare potential conflicts of interest when submitting their paper. That includes affiliations, membership or involvement with organizations linked to the research, financial interests, or personal and professional relationships that could have influenced the data collection or its analysis.

Ethical Oversight

The research articles and miniatures submitted to the journal must have an ethical conduct of research using human subjects and handling confidential data (anonymization of the subjects and participants in a research, approval to use their data, etc.).

Responsibility

The opinions expressed in the papers are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of the journal, the editors, or the reviewers. For this reason, the journal does not take any responsibility for the authors’ opinions expressed in their papers and they remain the sole persons responsible for the content of their text. If an author identifies a serious error in the published text, they must notify the administration of the journal immediately so the error may be rectified.

 

For Editors

Publication guarantees

The Editorial board and the advisory board guarantee the quality and objectivity of the processes followed during the editorial and publication process.

Schedule guarantees (on time, no delays)

The Editorial board shall uphold the specified timeframes for each of the steps of the editing process for submissions.

Conflicts of interest or competing interests

Editors must declare and avoid conflicts of interests during review and the assessment of manuscripts. If a conflict of interest becomes apparent during the review process, the editor concerned must immediately withdraw from the process. Conflicts of interest are:

• Co-authoring publications with at least one of the authors in the past two years
• Being colleagues within the same section/department or similar organizational unit in the past three years
• Supervising/having supervised the doctoral thesis of the author(s) or being supervised/having been supervised by the author(s)
• Receiving professional or personal benefit resulting from the review
• Having a personal relationship (e.g. family, close friend) with the author(s)
• Having a direct or indirect financial interest in the paper being reviewed

 

For Reviewers

Evaluation guarantees (objectivity, etc.)

Reviewers guarantee the quality and objectivity of the processes followed during the review process.

Schedule guarantees (on time, no delays)

Reviewers shall uphold the specified timeframes for each of the steps of the review process for submissions.

Conflicts of interes or competing interests

Reviewers must declare and avoid conflicts of interests during review and the assessment of manuscripts. Conflicts of interest are:

• Co-authoring publications with at least one of the authors in the past two years
• Being colleagues within the same section/department or similar organizational unit in the past three years
• Supervising/having supervised the doctoral thesis of the author(s) or being supervised/having been supervised by the author(s)
• Receiving professional or personal benefit resulting from the review
• Having a personal relationship (e.g. family, close friend) with the author(s)
• Having a direct or indirect financial interest in the paper being reviewed

If a conflict of interest becomes apparent during the review process, the responsible editor must be informed immediately. If appropriate, the editor shall reassign the review.

 

Regarding the journal

Digital Preservation Policy

The journal guarantees the accessibility of content in the future. The content will be made available on an alternative platform should the journal be discontinued.

Misconduct Handling Policy

The Editor-in-Chief is the first point for contact for allegations of ethical misconduct or plagiarism. They will seek clarification with all parties involved. If the allegations concern the Editor-in-Chief, a member of the editors is the first point for contact. The Editor-in-Chief (or an editor if the allegations concern the Editor-in-Chief) will always obtain a response from the original author(s) or copyright holder(s) in the event of an allegation before making any recommendations.

Privacy Statement

You consent to the collection, processing and use of data by using this website. This website can generally be visited without registration. In the process, data such as pages called up or the name of the file called up, date and time are stored on the server for statistical purposes without this data being directly related to your person. Personal data, in particular name, address or e-mail address, are collected on a voluntary basis as far as possible. The data will not be shared on to third parties without your consent.

If you submit a paper or if you e-mail us, your details, including the contact details you provide, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing your submission or your e-mail and in the event of follow-up questions. We do not share this data with third parties without your consent.

Declaration of the funding of the journal

HTCE is financially supported by swissuniversities. Supporters exercise no influence on the decisions of the editors.


Aarau, 13 December 2022